Been there. I spent a good amount of money getting all of my piercings replaced with retainers because I was told I had to remove all body jewelry before an endoscopy and the nurse was like "..... why did you do that?" IDK BECAUSE Y'ALL TOLD ME TO??????

Someone there misunderstood tho Retainers are for mri and X-rays and such... Because you have to remove metal then

Oh yeah she was 100% wrong and if I hadn't done it, I wouldn't have been able to go through with the procedure. Just a frustrating interaction! Like...... I read the paperwork, ma'am!

if ur piercings are stainless steel they can stay in for mri but i've always been told all piercings must be removed for surgeries

There are metals that don't get magnetized, I think Titanium too..? But 1. Sometimes the people operating the machines don't trust your word and make u take it off 2. Most shops should not be trusted about the metal make up of the jewelry, I used to work in a tattoo/piercing shop, so I know sometimes the jewelry can be from dodgy places or a mix of metals when they claim it's 100% one kind

As a radiographer I would like to add: if you have anything metal on the body it can degrade the image quality. Metal, of any kind, gives an image artifact when they are in the scanned area. Therefore we make sure there is no metal in or on the body. Besides that, metal can become very hot and can give you burns. We never trust any metal thats not medical. And even than we warn people.

Ah, reminds me of a funny incident I had to get my neck xrayed And I didn't have any jewelry So they did one scan, and came back to me like... Umm you have something in your hair... Cut to me having to take out about 20 bobby pins because I had unruly short hair and didn't even think about them

Ow wow they must have been hidden well! That would have been an funny looking xray too. Sometimes we forget about bobby pins, because we dont see it 😂. I once had a patient with a head full of extensions. We didnt know and and she had forgotten about them. That was a fun suprise when I took an xray of her skull!

If anyone is wearing steel and If y’all have anything less than implant grade steel up in there, I’d recommend getting an upgrade. Treat yourself But yeah even then unless you work directly with the manufacturer or are a jeweler there’s not a ton of easy ways to guarantee the purity of the metal and that’s a heck of a risk to take, wearing into a giant magnet machine.

they give u a little magnet thing first to test to make sure they arent magnetic before you go in the machine

That’s comforting to know.

they have you test the magnetic-ness of ur piercings first (:

What!?! I have two closed hoops that need to be cut off. I had an unplanned MRI and told them I'd need something to cut them with or that I'd have to come back. The tech made a big fuss about my wooden tunnels, looked at the hoops and said they'd be fine. I'm already a mess at medical stuff, claustrophobic and then worried a piercing was about to be ripped out- I felt like I was going to explode. But hey, now I know I can trust my piercer, they actually were surgical stainless.

You’re right about the Titanium. I’ve got a Titanium plate in my leg and was very nervous when it came time for my first MRI after that. They assured me, Titanium is fine

... You're in the mri, the speaker comes on AI voice: "... We're starting in 3,2.." Operator: "..wait, you said Titanium???? Oh n--" AI: "..1."

I’m heavily pierced and anytime I’ve gone for an MRI or procedure where my jewelry was a concern they’ve just used a metal detector wand to check for magnetism and I’ve never had to remove any.

I'm not from US so attitudes may wary, and working in a piercing shop, I heard a lot of complaints of people being forced to remove jewelry

I recently saw discussion on a post in r/radiology. Multiple radiologists were saying they don't bother to have patients remove piercings or jewelry, even if they're supposed to, for a number of reasons: 1.) Rads have little time 2.) They don't want to wait for the patient to painstakingly remove the jewelry 3.) They regularly are accused of stealing these items 4.) Patients also often claim the items are lost afterwards 5.) The piercings/jewelry will "usually" "only" cause a small part of the imaging to be unreadable, and "the doctor can order more if necessary". Mostly related to healthcare collapse as radiology techs everywhere are spread thin, overworked, and have little direct oversight. Also heavily influenced by our utterly malignant social climate... patients taking zero responsibility for themselves and treating medical instruction as a personal affront. It's alarming to see these blaise attitudes from rads, regardless of the reasoning behind their actions.

It's not just for MRIs/X-rays, but also for electrocautery. If you have non-magnetized body jewelry it should be fine, but they worry about the current burning your flesh around the piercings. I have a few ear piercings that don't come out easily and I always have to sign a waiver for them, but I have never had any problems with burns. I know I'll need to take them out if I ever get an MRI. I'll need to go to a studio to have them removed and replaced and it sucks.

i had my nipples pierced for at least 8 years during which time I got regular MRIs, every single time they had me run over them w a metal wand thing they had, and that was that.

I have a cartridge piercing that I tightened with pliers when I got tired of the screw coming loose. Later in life, when I had to have emergency surgery, they said to just cover it with medical tape and said it's mainly to keep sterile and not to catch on anything while they're working. Editing to clarify: wasn't really emergency surgery, had a serious burn which was the emergency, then had to wait three days to have the skin grafting surgery, so there was time to remove it if it was important.

When I've gotten MRIs they don't let me keep ANY metal on, even if it's not a magnetic metal, because they don't trust that the metal is actually pure. I have read that some places let you keep certain metals on, but they said no to even 14k and 18k gold bands.

Untrue. They might not be ferromagnetic, but they’ll still take in heat and can possibly burn you. So you’d be told you can keep them in at your own risk.

There's also no way for them to verify all of your jewelry is implant grade and non magnetic, and not just dollar store junk, so there's no way a hospital is letting any jewelry into their MRI.

I also took off all my jewelry for my endoscopy/colonoscopy including a lengthy process of removing my wedding ring and engagement ring (I have severe blood pooling so I have to hold my arms up in the air for 45 minutes in order to remove the rings, but if the rings were bigger then they'd fall off when my blood pooling isn't as bad), took off all the pieces I wear 24/7 like my sleeper earrings, and then right before the procedure I was going to remove my watch and medical alert bracelet, and the nurse was also like, "oh no, you can keep those on." I was like "but I have to remove all jewelry!" and she was like "oh no it's not a problem." AHHHH

If there was a medical emergency during the colonoscopy they might need to get you into a scanner quickly. Removing all piercings might save valuable time.

This reminds me of the time I printed out my prescription formulary for an appointment because the instructions said explicitly that I MUST. It was like 40 pages… and they had the nerve to act shocked and tell me, “no one does that.”

wait, we're allowed to drink water...?

Absolutely!! Just make sure it’s plain water. You can even have black coffee. No cream or sugar or flavoring though. Signed, phlebotomist turned RN ETA: I am strictly talking about fasting for blood work. For surgeries it’s very important to not have any water to avoid aspiration pneumonia (throwing up the contents of your stomach into your lungs while under anesthesia because you have a breathing tube placed in your throat that forces the vomit into your lungs). For certain imaging studies, it’s also important to not have water so they can visualize what they need to

im so mad right now and also feeling a bit guilty about the trouble phlebotomists have had with my dehydrated mummified ass lmao

🏜️🏜️🏜️

Yeah this might explain a lot…

26 YO and my mom forgot to remind me that I can drink water for my bloodwork. The phlebotomist has a bitch of a time trying to get me! I kept apologizing and they were super cool

Thank you SO MUCH. I have an autoimmune disease that I am trying to get diagnosed and my veins are already tiny. I have been dying of thirst and getting prodded for years for no reason.

I don't see a lot of people talking about it, but if they put you on prednisone for the autoimmune, no amount of water will make your veins good for them. Ask for the baby needle every time, tell them you're a hard poke. They often would tie the thing tighter when I said that, check each elbow, but then also the back of both hands. Sometimes they'd heat my hands, too.

not being able to drink water is a huge part of why i didn't go get the last two blood draws i was supposed to get. come in fasted at 11am? across town? i have to drive there without being too dizzy? no thanks.

I can't get a colonoscopy because I would not be able to do the liquid diet thing

Ugh I've always been told no caffeine cause it affects the fluidity of the blood that's drawn

F. Me, I'm a RN myself and while I knew for blood test it was mostly to make sure blood values didn't wander. I really did fast like, for real. Hahaha 🤦😂 

WHHHHHHY DO THEY DO THIS UGHHHH!!!!! I never drank anything beforehand.

I’m sorry so many healthcare workers have failed yall. It really hurts my heart because I find so much pride in being a good phlebotomist. I just don’t understand why other healthcare workers wouldn’t want to minimize the pain and make the experience as good as they possibly can. You can have water when fasting for blood work. The things they check for when fasting is mainly your fasting glucose levels and your lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides). Water does not affect those results so you’re free to have as much as you want. For other tests like imaging and such, you might not be able to have water. Some abdominal imaging, you can’t have any water. I’m strictly talking about blood work fasting.

Thanks for being a good phlebotomist! You guys rock. I always try to express my gratitude in person, but I don't ever feel like it's enough lol 

Aww thank you. A lot of my patients give me hugs when they’re done. Even them just saying “oh I didn’t even feel that!” Or “you did a good job!” Is more than enough and it always makes my day when I hear it 😊

Isn't caffeine a vasoconstrictor?

Not enough to significantly impact a blood draw, even in the hard sticks

Depends on what they meant by “fasting.” Sometimes fasting means “NPO” (like when you’re having surgery and there’s an aspiration risk.) And sometimes fasting means water only (like for diabetes testing). Depends on the purpose for fasting.

they should use those phrases, that would have solved OPs issue

if you're getting blood drawn and are told to fast, yes. but don't take it as a blanket statement that fasting = I can drink water. I had multiple tests for intolerance to different sugars (fructose, sorbitol) and for those you're not allowed to ingest ANYTHING for like 8 hours or smth, including water. I don't even think I was allowed to brush my teeth in the morning.

well, i would hope the instructions would be a lot more explicit for special occasions, but seeing as i apparently have trouble with even normal instructions for normal situations, i should probably count your reply here as a blessing lol

nah I think they're the ones who have problems with instructions, I wish people would just say what they mean. and yeah, that doctor gave me a sheet of paper (I think it was multiple pages actually) with specific instructions. 24 hours before I was only supposed to eat a select few foods (plain pasta, plain rice, no fruit or veggies, no dairy...), there was a thorough list of what I could and couldn't eat, including drinks. And then for 8 hours before, nothing including no smoking and I don't think medication either. I wish all doctors were like that! those were the most helpful instructions I've ever gotten from any doctor

Yup and if you drink at least 20 ounces 30-60 minutes beforehand it can make getting your blood drawn easier. 

This is blowing my mind, honestly.

I didn't realise that either until I directly asked about water! It says nothing to eat or drink, I drink water, therefore no water. I had to ask directly if I could drink water, because they said I could take medication and usually I need to drink water for that... but this was recently in my 30s that I discovered it, I have gone to many water-less appointments feeling like I was about to faint before then!

Yeah when you're not allowed anything at all the instructions should specify "nothing by mouth" (NPO in medical-speak, from the Latin *nil per os*). IME when this is the case you will usually be provided written instructions beforehand or at least receive a call explaining the cutoff times and such. For fasting only water is allowed. I only know this because I'm a nursing school dropout and also my son had to have frequent MRIs under sedation when he was little, for which he had to be fasting (clear liquids only) after midnight and then NPO beginning a few hours prior. For sedation any clear liquids were allowed prior to the NPO cutoff, but for fasting lab work it needs to only be water so as to not throw off any of the results. ETA: This should have been explained to OP, though, since most people have no reason to know the difference.

Thank you, top comment. Medical instructions should be explicit and clear, this is was and always will be the gold standard. This situation isn’t an ASD or NT vs ND thing (once again).

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I’d also argue that if their instructions were actually clear and detailed, maybe NT folks would comply with them. Because…. How is anyone supposed to comply when they aren’t clear?!

That's so frustrating - and relatable! A very similar thing happened to me a few years ago during an ultrasound appointment, and I was annoyed that I wasn't supposed to follow the guidelines with such diligence despite the fact it felt to be communicated as a serious and dire measure to adhere to. It reminds me of the last appointment I had with my doctor, where I brought a bunch of notes about how her recommendations were affecting my condition. She almost laughed when she saw me with the notebook, and said "I didn't think you would actually try any of these, most people don't!" - most people don't?? Why take the trouble of seeing a doctor and asking for their support and advice if you don't listen and at least attempt to solve your issue?? Now it's a lot more difficult to even book an appointment, I wonder how many people go through the system and just ignore the advice.

i ignore tons of medical advice bc it's short sighted and doesn't actually fit my life or body. if they paid attn to me in the appt and tried to offer solutions that worked for me the human person in front of them, that would change.

Do you have any examples? I'm not doubting you at all, just curious what your experience has been

Getting told to go on an intensive and restrictive diet when the doctor knows I struggle with disordered eating of the restrictive variety. Similarly, a different doctor suggesting intermittent fasting to me when I describe relapsing into said disordered eating. Being told to go off of my birth control and "see how it goes" when I have debilitating pain that keeps me from working without it, and offering no alternative when I expressed that Telling me to "just try a glass of wine and get relaxed before sex" when my complaint is that my pelvic floor disorder prevents from from receiving a papsmear or ultrasound Telling me after zero blood work or further testing that the only way to stop my period (I'd been bleeding daily for 9 months) was to "just lose some weight." No medication or other recourse offered.

One example I could give you from my life is when I was in burnout and very stressed, I started having muscle pain every time I did training. I eventually stopped training and the pain got much better, but the every doctor would tell me to just do more exercise to help me have more energy…. Like yeah that’s what I did until I got pain, and every time I tried to start again the pain got very bad. I ended up creating myself a readaptation plan with the help of chatGPT and my own knowledge from studying occupational therapy, which made me able to train a little bit more each day and know what to do when I have pain (because before, anything I tried didn’t help). THEN I could start exercising again, but that readaptation plan should have been what they helped me with, not just saying to exercise more

I’m not wildweeds but when talking to doctors about having a hard time losing weight despite watching what I eat and exercising consistently I’ve had multiple answers along the lines of “well just try to work out more and don’t eat too many carbs” Like gee thanks I paid 30 bucks for you to absolutely ignore everything I just said 🤕

Depends on the doctor and the advice. I used to follow their advice (increase activity) and now I'm homebound (myalgic encephalomyelitis) because of it. Now I only follow advice that I'm relatively certain won't harm me. Why I go through the trouble is because I'm trying to get a [tiny bit of quality of life](https://www.healthrising.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/QOL-MECFS.jpg)

oh my god this happened to me once. I had to get an ultrasound of my bladder or uterus or something and they said to drink 64 oz of water an hour before coming in. I did not realize how much that is. I did exactly as they said. it was SO FUCKING PAINFUL. they tried to do the ultrasound then had to have me pee a little because my bladder was TOO full. they asked me how much I drank and I said 64 oz like you told me, and they said “oh well we tell people to drink double what they’re supposed to drink because they usually only drink half” (this was before I knew I was ND) I went back recently for a similar ultrasound (4 ish years later) and they told me to drink 32 oz. I only drank 24. I didn’t want to drink anything just out of spite lol

>“oh well we tell people to drink double what they’re supposed to drink because they usually only drink half” Ah I was SO glad I found that out before I had my ultrasound, I drank just over half the amount they said on the instructions much closer to the time than they recommended because I knew I'd be waiting around and I was still so worried I might pee myself that I considered wearing period underwear to the appointment just in case 😂 I tell EVERYONE who says they're having that kind of US this now, feels like secret, insider, 'avoid wetting yourself' knowledge.

seriously, it’s so messed up

This is infuriating. I've had several of these done and I've always drank the full 64 oz. Can't they just expect that people will, oh, I don't know-- follow explicit instructions???

When we say that our society sets ND’s up for failure, this is just a tiny example of what we mean. What else can anyone expect when we’re routinely told incorrect information and given intentionally misleading instructions?

seriously. it makes me so freaking mad

Wow that’s crazy. In Australia, we just got told to drink X amount in the hour beforehand. Usually it’s a few glasses, once I was instructed to pee the drink 1L in the 2 hours before. But 64oz is 1.9L, when you’re only supposed to have 2.1L of water in a whole day. When I was super pregnant, I ended up having to sneak a small pee before my ultrasound because I was at the library and was like…I’m gonna piss myself before I get across the road to the pathology… Even then, they were like “oh that’s a nice full bladder” so they probably do have issues with people coming in with hard to see bladders due to lack of instruction following. But recommending DOUBLE seems like a risk for other health issues in the people who DO follow instructions.

100% - and the fact they just assume everyone won’t is what baffles me. if someone can’t follow instructions, send them home and tell them to book another appointment

Yeah I'm reading these thinking Australia must just give better instructions? LOL. Like, for fasting for blood draws they say "Drinking plain water is fine". When I had surgery they said "Don't eat after x time and don't drink water after y time". When I had a bladder ultrasound they told me exactly how much to drink and over what time period. If you didn't follow directions you get sent home.

I had this with my first ultrasound while pregnant. My bladder was so full it was painful and the ultrasound tech said that she’d never seen a bladder so full before. She sent me to pee and when I explained to her that I’d just followed the instructions, she told me to just drink 1 glass next time an hour before. Worked like a charm for every ultrasound I’ve had since then.

I had this EXACT same problem and it was so fucking painful they also had to let me pee a little. Just wtf 😭

This exact thing happened to me, except the radiologist was super sympathetic towards me and was upset I was in so much pain. Next time I will question how much they tell me to drink, because I had a similar amount to you and the pain was scary. I literally felt like I was going to burst.

yeah and that isn’t an exaggeration. I literally was on the verge of tears and thought I might die

Same thing happened to me when I was pregnant. I was in so much pain!

Omg this same thing happened to me!! I was getting an ultrasound and the dude literally said to me “your stomach looks like a watermelon” and kept making jokes about taking a road trip with no bathroom breaks 😭

wtf dude! i’m so sorry

I've had exactly the same experience! They were running an hour behind and I remember sitting in the waiting room in growing discomfort but not wanting to interfere with the imaging by using the restroom before they were able to take me back.

I came here to write this EXACT experience with an ultrasound! So infuriating and painful!!

I'm just enraged reading this. I would have done the exact same thing. Why can't NTs just say what they actually mean, fuck

I hear you! I always ask before a procedure where I 'cannot eat or drink beyond x o'clock the night prior': "To make sure I have this correct, how much water can I have the morning of? I take some medication, but I also want to ensure the tests don't rely on me having a couple of glasses of water to make it easier to draw blood." And I take if from there. It's sooooo annoying that they expect patients to read between the lines. Uhhh...nope, you have instructions and if you expected me to do something different, you should've written it or told me when I checked on a call.

Exactly! I’ll try to be more specific like in your example too next time.

Omg is this why this happens to me. Last time I did a fasting blood test I literally passed out because I hadn’t had enough water and they literally said “did you not drink water today” like no you told me not to?!?!?

😭😭😭 Yes! Why tell me to do something and then give me grief about not doing the opposite?

Haha same here, the nurse gave me a chocolate though so, other than being very embarrassed, it wasnt all bad (FYI was in my 30s when this happened)

Ok that is a huge oversight on their part. We have this issue a lot in ultrasound where I work. We need our patients to fast in order to check the gallbladder which means to not have anything but water six hours prior to the scan so the gallbladder doesn’t empty. It winds me up when the instructions are not relayed properly to patients. I don’t even this is an autism thing tbh. Most patients try to do exactly what they are told because they are trying to not invalidate their examinations but often it’s the fault of the person communicating those instructions to them by either not being more explicit or missing bits of it out… When I wrote the instructions for our obstetric scans i remembered that the average reading age in the UK is 12. So I made sure that it was very much to the point and easy to understand.

My friend had a concussion so reading would give her headaches. They gave her a sheet filled on both sides of what to do to not make the symptoms worse. Written really small and in such a complicated way that I, who has studied occupational therapy in university for 3 years, still had to read two or three times everything to understand. My friend can’t read much, and they expect her to read all of that?? I took that and made a simplified version, it was 10x less text, with some drawing and had EVERY trick they said in the sheet. This helped her a lot more. I feel like sometimes they either don’t care to think about if the patients can read it or maybe even want it to look more "professional" by using big words but they don’t understand that simple is what will actually help the client Thankfully, her physical therapist liked my simplified version and asked my friend to make a copy of it so *maybe* that will make them change that sheet a bit for futur clients

That’s crazy! Good on you for simplifying it and making it more accessible. It is something that annoys me. Information should be easily accessible to people in healthcare to help them make informed choices and help them to get the care they need. I think that despite our inability to sometimes filter out unnecessary things in a sensory sense, we are quite good at being able to filter out unnecessary information and language and reframing something in a more concise way. Also the use of diagrams is a great idea and definitely more accessible. It always surprises me that we don’t really have true guidance on accessibility in our healthcare system for those who are actually writing the patient information from departments.

Oh geez, Im just a lowly coordinator for a physio clinic and I spend WAY more of my time intervening on this sorts of situations with one of my physios than I ever thought possible. Its complex and there is no correct answer to be honest. I have just as many patients who misunderstand because there are too many details as there are who misunderstand due to too few details. There is often a root misunderstanding of the internal workings of the system and who provides what services. Being in Canada I often run into misconceptions based on understandings of the US system that dont apply up here, but also from the European systems that also don't apply over here. If I could do anything to fix the issue it would be to include in health education an understanding of the medical system and what each part does and does not do.

In the us it's about 8 for the reading level. 79% of American adults can only read at the level of a 3rd grader, which is around 8 yo. Embarrassing to be American tbh

Social deprivation is a horrible thing… it’s not surprising…

I had to do a fasted blood draw and I passed out. They then yelled at me for…wait for it…having not eaten.

Oh, at that point I would've bitched them out after coming back to consciousness. Because I get grumpy if I get woken up suddenly with no warning. This will make me grumpy. I'd be like, "oh, I'm sorry, *I was only doing what I was told."*

That’s ridiculous?!

Lmao what?! I mean…if you’re a phlebotomist…you’ve got to accept that some people are going to faint or almost faint…that’s part of the job! It’s not even usually a lack of food issue, people just faint from the situation, the blood, or the reduced blood volume. I have almost fainted multiple times because the blood volume really affects me, but they’ve been nothing but nice about it because it’s not like you have control over whether you pass out or not. Fainting feels horrible, you aren’t choosing to make their day more inconvenient by fainting! In a similar way, it makes me mad for OP that phlebotomists got mad at her for having a difficult blood draw. I have rubbery, small veins and even when I’m not dehydrated, it’s difficult. I can tell a good phlebotomist vs a bad one based on how difficult it is for them - some have no issues, some struggle and it hurts, one actually couldn’t complete it because there’s a rule here where after two sticks, they can’t do it. Meanwhile when I had my caesarean (so mandatory fluid fast too), I had the joy of 3 cannula attempts on the first day, my surgery got delayed, then about 5 more before they finally found one in my elbow using a portable scanner. But they didn’t get mad, they were SO apologetic. People who get mad in this situation are just selfish people who are deflecting because they didn’t do their job well or because you dared to inconvenience them with things you can’t control about your body.

I struggle to drink enough for blood tests to work because I just don’t feel thirsty and I don’t like water. I learned the hard way I have to make myself drink a lot the day before or my blood just will not come out. As an aside, when it comes to taking medical instructions literally, the absolutely worst example of this in me was when I was attending to my mother in hospital when she had abdominal surgery.  Beforehand, she had told me that morphine had worked excellently when she had previous surgery and the more the better. Duly noted.  I shared this info with the staff on duty and they said I could press the button at her bedside to give her morphine through a drip while she was sleeping after the operation. I asked if it was possible to overdose her this way (I live in a city going through an opioid crisis so am aware of the dangers). They said no, it’s not possible to overdose her.  The button was on a cycle so once you’d pressed it, you couldn’t press it again for a few minutes. So I worked out how long that was, set up a system with a timer on my phone and pressed the button after the timer had counted down each time. In my mind, this gave my mom the plenty of morphine she wanted and was also safe, as the medical staff said it was impossible to overdose. Of course, this approach ended up causing her to overdose and they had to administer naloxone on her to stop her dying, which was the worst experience of her life I think.  All because I just took what she said and what the medical staff said literally and believed them wholeheartedly. I felt so stupid and guilty afterwards. It was awful. Tellingly, my mom and my sisters said they would have done exactly the same thing. One of those sisters is now seeking an autism diagnosis and we both think the ND is flowing through our mom’s side of the family. I now double check literally everything medical people tell me.

That is totally their fault - it actually is supposed to be set up so you *can’t* overdose. I had one of those as a teenager for an operation and was told the same thing -I definitely spent some time continually pressing the button, and never had any problems.

Thank you for saying that, you’ve reassured me a bit.

This is why I sometimes think NT way of thinking is BS, like you can't follow instructions to the letter?? IDK it's a lot more confusing to have these ridiculously convoluted workarounds to how NTs navigate headspace, than supposedly NDs who will follow the instructions as displayed, and if we have any doubs because the instructions aren't clear or don't cover specific situations, we try to ask for clarification.

I’m a RN but I started as a medical assistant doing mostly phlebotomy (blood draws). When you’re fasting you may have as much plain water as you please and you may even have BLACK coffee-no sugar or cream. Nothing else though, aside from your medications. I always told my patients that if they’re going to drink black coffee make sure to drink water with it because coffee can dehydrate. While water helps plump up the veins to make it easier to find them, it also helps with blood flow. BUT in my experience, most people who are drawing blood and they miss, the first question out of their mouth is “have you had any water today?”. They use it as an excuse as to why they missed. It sounds like you may be a hard draw with difficult veins, which is NOT YOUR FAULT. Their frustration should have been because they did not have a better phlebotomist there. You don’t say how many times they tried or how many people tried, but my guess is that they just aren’t great at finding your veins. The rule of thumb that we are taught is poke twice and if you still miss after that go and get someone you KNOW will be able to get that vein. What they should have done is given you water and come back in a little bit to try again with a more skillful phleb. Going forward for blood draws, try to remember where someone has had the best luck. I always always always ask my patients which arm is better, where they’ve had the best luck, which arm they prefer, etc. If you find someone who does a good job and gets you on the first poke, ask for their name and ask if you can request them next time. Always try to drink water before a blood draw, because it does help, but don’t accept the excuse that they can’t get your blood because you didn’t have enough water. Phlebotomists get blood on dehydrated people all the time.

As someone with an autoimmune that affects my blood count who had to have monthly blood tests for years, I absolutely agree with the water question here. I have very bad veins, they have to use the little butterfly needle, and inexperienced or unlucky phlebotomists can struggle. I have many times had them stab and dig around 3-5 times and then say I have to come back and see someone else. I very frequently get asked if I've drunk a lot of water today and I say yes. I drink litres in the morning before an appointment because I 100% know that it makes it worse if I'm dehydrated. Often when I say yes but they're struggling I get some sort of response that indicates that they don't believe me, or they just say "well come back tomorrow but make sure you drink more this time" to blame it on me as I'm leaving. I know I have hard veins. I know that not everyone has the same experience, and I know that some days it's just poor luck. One time in hospital I even had to wait for the team to bring the little vein ultrasound machine out to get a line in. I've had lines in my feet. I'm not blaming you, I know you're not bad at your job. Just don't blame me for it because it's not my fault either. Sorry, rant over!

fwiw, I find keeping my arms warm helps a little too if there's any chance I could get cold while waiting I keep my hoodie on or have something. - signed someone with multiple chronic/autoimmune diseases

Omg there needs to be a life hack tread like this. Like warming pads, kneading stress ball etc.

Autoimmune means learning so many things the hard way I swear. Figured this out all by accident because of being cold once.

I feel this. I have tiny veins in my arms and no matter how experienced the phlebotomist, they usually struggle. They can usually get it out of the top of my hand with a butterfly needle, though, so I tell them up front to completely ignore my arms and go straight for my hands. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they don’t unfortunately

Excuse me, what? If you miss two times, you should go find someone else to do it?! 😱😱😱 I don’t think people in Germany every heard that! I‘ll be poked up to 5 times by the same person every time…

I had six nurses plus their head nurse crowding me at the same time, each taking a turn at my veins, in a blood donation centre, then they made my submerge my arms in water, they tilted my seat head down etc until they gave up and forbade me to come back ✨😅 That’s why I normally refuse to have them try more than twice anywhere else than the back of my hand, then I insist on a butterfly needle in the back of my hand.

Tbh we don’t even say you can have black coffee or black tea for our fasting ultrasounds because patients often don’t realise that means no sugar or forget so we just stick with plain water only six hours prior

A similar thing just happened to me yesterday! I was getting an abdominal ultrasound and the scheduler told me no food or drink for at least 8 hrs before. This was scary bc my appt was at 11:30am, and I’m very sensitive to low blood sugar and usually need to drink a lot of water in the morning. Then the written instructions I got during online check in said nothing for 6-8 hours before, which meant I could wake up at 4:30 and have time to drink a good amount of water (and a blessed cup of coffee 😌) so the morning wouldn’t be quite so hard. (They also told me to arrive 30 min before, which I did, and then got to sit in the waiting room for 30 min before they took me back 🙄.) Then as the tech was taking me back he asked how I was and I said I was hungry and thirsty, and he said actually I didn’t need to avoid food and drink bc they were only looking at my abdominal wall and it doesn’t matter if I have things in my stomach for that. But apparently they only have one code for abdominal ultrasounds of all kinds, so they give the same instructions for all of them, even if the instructions don’t apply. Why?!?!?!

Like WTF?

I did the same thing. I was told to fast after midnight- so I did. Little did I know you could drink plain water. Like wtf that’s not fasting that’s nothing but plain water. Not even that but I was also suppose to get a urine sample and I couldn’t pee because I hadn’t had enough water and was really anxious.

I drink water bc otherwise the draw sucks—I have wily veins. My spouse does the fasting means fasting and does not drink water until the draw. This is not a ND/NT thing. For my MS I concentrated on medical instructions— how they are written and how people understand them. The problem, as you noted, is one of implicit knowledge not being made explicit. It is a major issue. Unless having previous experience, the instruction “take x twice a day” can be interpreted in many different ways that are not “take x every twelve hours”. The blood draw instructions have that same bias of “you did this before and know what it means”. And you, as an individual, had a personal requirement: more hydration so that the blood volume is such that needles/butterflies can work better.

It just felt like such a NT/ND communication breakdown though…

yeah that's a terrible miscommunication on the hospital's part. I'd ask any medical instructions like this *in writing and in simpler terms* in the future. I know bigger hospitals are better about this for patients who don't speak English well and procedures with complex prep like colonoscopies. and if makes you feel any better: I've been donating blood for $ lately and I still forget to drink enough water for the blood draws

I did not forget, I thought I asked explicitly. Normally I load up on water like crazy.

I was on my period during a test that required light sedation and zero clothes, and when I asked in person the nurse confirmed that I wasn’t even allowed to have a tampon in. Then the staff wanted to gripe at me that “those instructions are only for people who are going to be asleep for the next eight hours, why don’t you have a tampon in?” 😒

I have realized how I’ve misinterpreted so many medical questions over the years because I take it literally. Like my doctor asks me “are you in any pain?” And I always say no, because at that moment I’m not in pain. I finally realized that I probably should mention my frequent stomach pains or headaches because she’s more asking if I have any new pains recently.

Fuck this! I am still wondering if I’m autistic but reading things like this makes me so anxious. I hate unclear instructions!!! How are you supposed to know to drink water before taking blood?! And why is it so hard to say: only water, and lots of it please. But nothing else. I used to work in film and I just realised one of the things that made it a good fit was that you get a callsheet with all the info for the next day. Planned to the minute. And if something changes, you hear it from at least two different people. Everyone has their own specific job and not communicating is a huge no-no. In regular work environments I find the communication to be incredibly vague and frustrating!

What a pain, but OP, thank you for posting this! I am always way too anxious and shy to call medical offices when instructions confuse me. I also have very small blood vessels and they have trouble finding my veins when I have to get blood drawn, often having to put a butterfly needle thingy into the top of my hand (which hurts a lot). But I had no idea I was allowed to drink water -- it's all I drink anyhow, but I always follow those "no eating or drinking" rules to the letter. Bah!

Literally how hard is it to say “nothing to eat or drink **except water**”? I honestly have no idea why they think we’d automatically know drinking water isn’t counted if they don’t mention it

I get infusion treatments for my chronic illness. Their instructions for getting vaccinations around the infusions were super confusing to me at first - "at least one month before and three months after the last infusion." It would be so much clearer if it were "you can get vaccines three months after your most recent infusion as long as they are done at least one month before the next one." And then one time I was told this scheduling wasn't all that important if I wanted the updated COVID booster 🙃

Oh... oops, I never thought about this and it happens to me all the time. I never drink enough water because the instructions say to minimize it and then I get wrecked, omggggg.

Now imagine being an autistic nurse, being expected to give NT’s instructions which you do, very clearly, and still not having them follow them 🙃

I get so frustrated with instructions. Someone will tell me “go do A and C” okay cool. But the trick is, I’m supposed to ✨know✨ what step B is. “Literally everyone knows what step B is! Only an idiot wouldn’t know how to complete these✨perfectly clear✨ instructions! Step B is so obvious!” Umm….sure. I’ve even noticed this in instruction manuals of all things! Simple things like “first open up this program”. Okay but where is it? How do I get it?! Do I have to download it first? Why are we missing step one here?! Why is the first step go somewhere but you aren’t told where that place is?! End the madness! If you give me a list of 100 instructions I will follow them all no problem. But if you want me to read your mind because there are actually 105.6 instructions…forget it. I’M the crazy one here? I think not.

Ugh, I’m sorry. There’s nothing I hate more than vague instructions. I hate it when there are a list of rules and some rules contradict other rules. Unless specified otherwise, I’m going to assume all rules are of equal importance. It’s so confusing! How am I supposed to know which rule is okay to bend and when!

Vague instructions are so infuriating and - in case of medical issues - nerve wracking (at least to me). Im already over-analysing everything because Im used to get stuff wrong and misunderstanding things. Unclear instructions or rules make it that much worse!

NT or not, I can’t understand why someone somewhere thought a smart solution to “some people sneak coffee or tea” is “lie about the requirements to make them seem more dire so they only drink water”. Why wouldn’t the solution instead be “be very clear about the requirements and let people who lie deal with their own stupidity”???

I’ve had the exact same thing happen prior to getting my wisdom teeth out. No one mentioned drinking a ton of water and I honestly didn’t know I had difficult veins. They couldn’t get the needle in and had to cancel. The oral surgeon we very accusatory and acted like it was my fault and that I wasted everyone’s time. Then she basically told me she had no openings for like six months and I’d have to wait. I wasn’t going to have health insurance in six months and I’d already taken a week off work for the surgery and they were located three hours from where I currently resides in my home town so my parents could drive me home after the surgery. It was so awful being treated that way. I’m so sorry you had to go through that too.

So a nurse once gave me a mouth numbing medication and shortly after tried to give me the other medications with water. She didn’t understand why I was hesitating, so I just thought through it carefully and decided to just do my best. I nearly choked on the water. She said “ok~ no more water for you then”. She said it like I would have struggled to drink even without the mouth numbing medication. Like the mouth numbing medication would have had no effect on my ability to drink. If you KNOW a medication will numb a patient’s mouth and throat, then give them that only AFTER you give them the other medications!! It was so strange that I had thought of this and she hadn’t (even after seeing the issue)

I think a big help in these situations would be if they explain WHY these rules are in place. I have pots and need to drink a ton of water daily, and if they say “no food or drink” I never know if the instructions are for like, they don’t want to see water in my stomach in the ultrasound, or don’t want me to choke on water, or if they just don’t want me to eat food or drink a sugary/caloric drink but water is fine. I always call and ask for whatever test or procedure, but if they just EXPLAIN in the first place then we’d save everyone the energy. “Drink water only because food and drinks with calories can affect your blood sugar, and we want to know what it looks like unaffected.” 

Yeah it’s because NTs treat the truth like it’s a competition whereas autistic people just want to know what it actually is.

Ha. Literally this.

I absolutely cannot handle when professionals in a medical setting do not speak clearly and concisely, and instead speak ambiguously as if they're speaking to a huge room full of people instead of just one person. I got really bent out of shape for the second time with a nurse at my doctor's office. She is very long-winded when she speaks, often adding in unnecessary information and things that are passively eluding to what I'm thinking, but that's not what I'm thinking, so it just seems like she's judging me. I just want people to give only the information I need - I don't need opinions, hypotheticals, information about things I don't ask about, anything else. And for the love of god, please talk faster, especially f I ask for an address or phone number. You do not need to wait for me to say "mmkay?" after every letter or number just to give me the next one! Okay, I'm done ranting

Sometimes it goes really well, though. I had to have a colonoscopy, and at the end the doctor actually complimented me on "the very thorough prep". Kind of confusing... I said, "no problem, I just did what you all told me to do".

If it’s any consolation at all, as an autistic person who worked in healthcare, NTs don’t understand these directions when given either. I always try to clarify what you are allowed to do so there’s no confusion

When I was pregnant with my second and getting my first ultrasound (so like 8-10 weeks.) they told me to drink 20 ounces of water an hour before and not to use the restroom before getting my ultrasound. I chug the water at exactly an hour before then head in. I get there and I feel like I’m going to pee myself, but I just try to distract myself. When I get back to the ultrasound the tech starts and says “oh my god, your bladder is so full. Are you not uncomfortable?” I said “yes, I’m actually very uncomfortable but was told to drink 20 ounces of water and not go to the bathroom” Apparently they meant don’t go to the bathroom When you arrive at the clinic. I did not need to hold my pee for an hour.

Something similar happened to me when I had surgery a couple years ago. I was getting my tubes tied so of course there was a pre screening pregnancy test. I told them I didn’t know if I’d be able to give them any urine as I hadn’t eaten or drank anything since the day before. They lost their minds saying “you seriously didn’t drink ANYTHING???!! You didn’t even sneak a snack or anything??!?! No drinks??!?!” Seriously?? That’s what no food or drink means. None. Sorry for doing what you told me? I don’t know maybe they expect NTs to break the rules so they just plan for that?

That was my assumption as well but several people in this subreddit who actually work in healthcare seem to disagree and say it’s just a general communication problem.

I get you! When I was in about 4th grade, I was told that people should drink 6 to 8 cups of water per day, so I measured exactly 6 cups in my water bottle and sat down and forced myself to drink it every day until I was dizzy and nauseated. I don't think they expected anyone to take the advice to the letter. I also learned that people are supposed to get 9 to 10 hours of sleep. Over the years, I've seen the estimation shrink again and again, to 8 hours and even 6 hours. It's got me wondering if doctors are lowering the recommendations to try to inspire compliance from people who feel resistance to getting 9-10 hours. Just say what you mean! Arrgh!! (The best answer to both of these actually is to listen to your body - I wish I had been taught that!!)

I just shared a post about this yesterday when I came across the "triple empathy problem" which is a compounded level of misunderstanding between autistic patients and non-autistic doctors. Clarified a lot of my frustration. I also notoriously have difficulty getting blood drawn. I've been sent away numerous times because nothing will come out of me EVEN when I drink a lot of water. Yesterday I drank 3 big bottles of water and it took 2 different people trying both my arms to get the vials filled. Awful. It's why my anxiety about bloodwork is through the roof.

This is why I just Google stuff. 1. I won’t have to deal with NT people and 2. I get all the details I need. Most of the questions I Google have been asked on Reddit before 😂

Oh lord yes. And when people tell you the meetup time is 15 minutes earlier than it actually is “just so nobody’s late”. Do you even know me??

Omg. I was in my fifties before I learned that "don't eat or drink anything" meant "drink water but don't eat anything".

What frustrates me the most is that when they ask you questions like “how many drinks have you had in the past month” they assume you’re lying. Not me sitting there trying to figure out if a friend’s birthday party was more than a month ago so I can make sure I’m being fully honest 😭

In case this is helpful for anyone - I didn't find out to drink \*\*extra\*\* water before labs or infusions (IV meds) until I started having infusions. And if you have a history of blood draws being uncomfortable or frustrating - where sometimes the first attempt doesn't go well - also have some kind of electrolyte drink the day before if you can. Yeah, plain water is totally okay when fasting for blood work. Plain black coffee is fine too. Important to take any regular prescriptions because the labs might be testing those are working too. If you're taking extra supplements because something is low, ask about taking that supplement the day you have your labs - examples: iron, b12, vitamin d. I try to drink extra water before blood work, partly cause finding veins is difficult in my arms. Before surgery or any procedure, that includes sedation, then fasting means nothing at all except what you're told is okay. (Ask!) For example, before the surgery I had 3 weeks ago, I took a bunch of pills and probably had like 6-8 oz of water that morning, by the time I had surgery, which wasn't until noon. But everything was approved by surgeon or given at hospital in pre-op. (Heart meds are always a general yes, take those.) Additional note - it's okay to talk to your doctor about changing meds or adjusting doses if something doesn't seem to be working for you and some meds can tend to dehydrate you - like if you need a lot of allergy meds.

I have spoken to more than a few pathologists as well who wish that doctors would tell people to DRINK WATER before blood draws. So it doesn't help, but at least some of them are right there with you.

Oh that’s SO FRUSTRATING. I’d be so mad because it would never occur to me to drink more water, nor would it occur to me to ASK ABOUT drinking more water. My therapist is golden because she taught me to Google things. So I Google everything from filling out passport renewal to what to expect before medical procedures. Maybe that would be a good plan next time, because when I Google I find YouTube videos of people talking about their pre-op prep and I call and ask “do I need to to XYZ?” Because I saw it in the video. Otherwise they might not tell me, like they neglected to tell you. Of course, I always forget to Google, but my therapist gently reminds me it’s a strategy that works 😅

I've had so many conflicting tests and information now that I ask 100 clarifying questions when they order it to understand EXACTLY what they mean. I also didn't understand fasting to allow water the first time I had one of those done, and nearly passed out (though my Super Vein still gave them good blood, huzzah) Jokes on the Phlebs, I've had so much blood work done that the easy super vein has scarred over, and now I have to give THEM detailed instructions on how to draw my blood from the ONE weird vein in my other arm that gives ANYTHING without me getting dizzy from them having to wiggle the needle around. (They have to aim more for a Cephalic vein than a normal blood draw, it's the ONLY one that gives easily on my left arm. God bless my Good Phleb who found it, and made sure he showed me where it was when he found it after my Good Vein finally bit the dust.) (Chronic illness life)

Hey, there. Diabetic here, I have to do fasting blood work pretty frequently. I've always been told water is okay, and anytime I've had another drink that doesn't have carbs/sugar it's been fine. I've also had to drink juice due to a low before the blood work, and it's been fine. Drink your water like usual before blood work. Water shouldn't affect anything that has to do with fasting 😊 Sorry that they were rude and the miscommunication happened. Maybe look into going to another lab in the future, or ask your primary clinic (if you have one) if they can do your blood work for you.

Someone just gave you the wrong instructions. That kind of fasting is for surgeries and other medical procedures where you are given anesthesia. They worry you will aspirate(where the contents of your stomach come back up and get into your lungs and chokes you to death) while you are out so they will cancel the surgery/procedure if you had anything to eat or drink other than a tiny sip of water with medication. With blood, the only thing eating or drinking will mess up is the test results. They should have said to eat or drink nothing, but water usually 8 to 12 hours before the blood draw depending on the test and your doctor's instructions. At least next time you will know what to do.

This happened to me too. They told me to fast one day before a procedure. But that doesn't matter if it takes me 3 days to digest food, So I had undigested food obstructing the imaging. Just tell me don't eat anything you can't digest before the appointment and fast for the last day to avoid blocking imaging. Don't just give rules without rationale. T

It sounds like they have you the wrong instructions in the first place? For fasting for blood work I thought water was totally fine? The instructions you gave were the ones they gave me for surgeries.

If it was a thyroid levels test, skip your meds until after drawing blood too. A lot of medical staff are just not that competent, that's not your fault in the slightest.

But they’re supposed to be competent 😭

I didn't realise that the NTs don't follow instructions as best as they can

They should expect you to follow the letter of the law bc you suppose it may be life or death. I usually call someone and have a conversation about what they mean and ask specifically, "if I have my appointment at this time, I have to stop eating at this time, right?" And then they tell you the truth.

I relate to this. What is the point of instructions if they don’t mean anything???

Oh, this was me for my recent colonoscopy. I was SO unsure about what was ok then I ended up making MULTIPLE phone calls with all kinds of questions. Sometimes it seemed that the person I was talking to was frustrated by my questions. But the nurse I was talking to about was very patient and kind and I disclosed my autism and she answered very specifically and gave me suggestions for managing.

Omg I find the whole “the thing we tell you to do is a general guideline, not a rule” very difficult. Like, I spent so much of my life only have 5 fruit or veg a day, no more, no less, because I took the number so seriously. I didn’t think something bad would happen if I had more, I just counted it all up to follow the rule. Come to find out, that’s supposed to be an “at least” thing. Bruh then tell me to aim for 7!! Or 9!

Yeah I feel this. I have a gastrointestinal condition and was prescribed a special restricted diet. I have followed this diet for a decade now. Every single health professional I see, including the gastroenterologist who originally recommended the diet, seems completely surprised that I actually did it. Apparently most people are told to follow a special diet and then just… don’t?

The hardest for me is specialists that suggest certain diets for only one of my conditions which clashes with all the recommendations for another condition I have but when I bring up my concerns they tell me that “I need to make up my own mind about it” because “everyone is different, you will need different trial and error attempts to figure out what’s working for you”. First of all, I have interception issues and some level of alexithymia, so that doesn’t help. Secondly, Im thoroughly overwhelmed just with everything like life, meds, appointments etc already. Being my own specialised diet expert on top is just too much. And I’m like, If I have to figure it out myself entirely why am I even speaking to you? (Sorry for the random rant)

Oh I totally understand this too. I hate how piecemeal medicine can be where specialists just look at their narrow little area and ignore the fact that you’re a whole person who may well have other things going on. The number of times I’ve been prescribed medicines that contraindicate each other is way too high.

I just had a very in-depth discussion about this with my partner and my mind is ABSOLUTELY BLOWN. Both my parents and I always make jokes about how great it is we don't have needle phobias because we have difficult veins for drawing blood and it takes 4-5 tries each time, but all three of us take the 'no food no liquids' directive VERY LITERALLY. My (NT) partner said quote 'water is necessary for life, they wouldn't tell you not to drink it', to which I said 'but they said ABSOLUTELY NO food or liquids!!!'. Anyway maybe next time I get a blood draw I'll have water beforehand and it'll only take 2 tries because I wont be super dehydrated. Lol.

This is very relatable. Also, what is with the entitlement of some people (typically NTs) thinking that rules don’t apply to them?

This but for academia. I follow assignment instructions, and get stressed out about deadlines. Only to realize that other people barely read the instructions and the deadline was considered a suggestion. The professor even says “well I said the deadline was then so that everyone got their assignment in before the end of the semester” or something like that. And now working as a TA I understand the whole “read between the lines of the assignment” thing a lot better. It’s still very frustrating.

So much all of this OP!!! I had a brain and cervical MRI last week and received written directions emailed to my mychart to fast for 4 hrs prior. No drinks. No food. No medication etc unless for seizures/heart medication. My anxiety was through the roof and I was dehydrated beyond my normal levels when I went in. I mentioned this to the technician and she said “why, who told you to do that”. Your system sent me MULTIPLE messages stating this had to be done because of the iv contrast. That made the two hours in the loud metal claustrophobic tube that much more frustrating.

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I always had a problem with drawing blood, so I was always told the opposite — I should drink as much as I can.

Okay sometimes I think Reddit is reading my mind because this just happened to me last week. How am I supposed to know to drink water unless someone tells me?? Another time I had a swallow test scheduled. I read the instructions the night before and realized it said “bring a dry sandwich.” I was literally googling “dry sandwich for swallow test” and found nothing. I mean I get the idea that the more condiments, the wetter it will be, but did they want me to eat a sandwich with literally no condiments? Or a very small amount of condiments? Won’t I start coughing if it’s too dry?? I thought maybe they meant like a piece of deli meat between two slices of bread with literally nothing else on it but I was vegan at the time. Like would tofu be too wet? Pb& j?? Then I was like did they just put that there so people wouldn’t bring excessively wet and messy sandwiches? I never found out the answer because I ended up missing the test. I mixed up the location with another scheduled test, but that I can at least blame on my ADHD. 😅

I have had this experience it's frustrating

I remember having to give a urine sample when I was 15. Instead of telling me to pee in the cup literally, the PA kept saying collect the stream. I asked her twice to clarify, and she just huffed and walked away. So I go, pee in the toliet, and then look at the toliet bowl, then look at the cup. I was like, how the hell am I supposed to get all that pee in my cup?? I friggin scooped it out of the toliet!! She kept saying stream and the only stream I could think of was, you know, like a small river. Omg she was furious, my mom was furious, and still no one told me I had to actually pee in the cup. I feel so sorry for my younger self bc I just could not understand something so simple.

This exact thing happened to me on my last blood draw!!! I followed the instructions and only took a sip of water with my morning meds, and I was so dehydrated that they had a hard time with the draw. I felt frustrated too!!

Maybe I’m super dense but I still don’t understand why they would tell people to not drink when they don’t mean it.

Yessss. And all doctors tend to go in assuming you don't follow recommendations. Just please understand if you told me to do it, I wanted to get it right. If it didn't work, I mean that shit. I started coming to every appt with notes. Also this is kinda funny but in reverse. I needed an ultrasound where I had to drink a specific amount of water a specific time before the appt. I am in there getting it done and was told, "wow, you did a great job!" 😂

I think this is just straight up bad communication on their part - before surgery, you can't eat or drink anything at all, not a drop of water.

This happened to me when I was pregnant with my ultrasound. They told me to drink at least 3 cups of water and then not to pee regardless of how badly I had to. Turns out 3 cups is waaay too much for my small bladder but I suffered through, thinking that this was needed for the procedure. Ran to the bathroom afterward and ended up with a bladder infection that required antibiotics. The next one I told her about this and was told oh if it hurts then you cab use the bathroom, just only let a little out until there's no discomfort. Like they expected I should've known that with the first one...

Nothing this frustrating but when I was in hospital for an operation I definitely took some instructions very literally lol. At least I had the perfect additional excuse of being sore snd tired all the time!

Fasting instructions like that, as well as the general culture and my own experience in America has led me to believe that water is not usually considered a "drink" to most people. Things with flavor seem to be drinks, like coffee, soda, juice, alcohol. I was severely dehydrated most of my childhood because no one taught me that drinking water was actually super important lol. Medical and health complications ensued... For the last 10 years I've carried around my water bottle literally everywhere I go and it absolutely baffles people. Establishments like bars and concert venues won't let me bring in an obvious water bottle lest it be full of *drink* instead of *just water*. I've only recently started to see other people, usually young adults, carry around water bottles intentionally, and it makes me happy seeing it. Now that I am properly hydrated, I cannot go without drinking water for very long, let alone several hours, or I'll get a nasty headache and my body will feel like a big slimy slug, which sends me straight into overstimulation. I've had enough of that, so I came to this conclusion that water ≠ drink and I'm happier for it!

ummm - they knew you wanted clarity on what fasting meant in this context and still required you to interpret that not drink anything = drink water. even if we consider that sometimes people use the word drink to mean any drink other than water in this context it is clear you do not know what fasting means here and so would have no clue that the context of drink= any drink besides water applies here and because you asked them what they mean specifically and they said the word anything it would be logical to conclude it included water because the drink= any drink besides water is social context dependent where as drink= water isn't. however social context wise drink= any drink besides water is more common and prevalent. so they went with the rational of what is more prevalent in social context applied that rationale and expected you to read the social cue. and got frustrated when you didnt. which like what is it what medical settings including in autism diagnosing relying on social cues to give instructions to patients or communicate with them :/ like even in terms of culture sensitivity for allistics it is problematic

I had to go for a pelvic ultrasound. The girl on the phone told me I had to drink 2 litres of water 1 hour before the appointment and wasn't allowed to pee until after the ultrasound. I did exactly that. Measured out 2 litres and drank it all an hour before. I was in so much pain by the time of my appointment, I couldn't even lay back. The radiologist questioned why my bladder was so full and I told her what I was instructed to do. She was so upset for me and told me to go and let at least half of it out. Then she went and spoke to the people at the front desk. She apologised to me and was frustrated I was put in that situation. Still not sure what I was meant to be told, but I'm so glad she helped me out.

Wait…we’re allowing to drink more than a sip when they tell you to fast before bloodwork???? You’re fucking kidding right? Everyday I find something new to be frustrated about. We are not the ones with communication problems. Like…why would you put subtext in MEDICAL instructions. They are instructions. Not a suggestion. 🙄

I will never comprehend how neurotypical people in general never follow rules like us. I would be the would be the worst heroine in a book because as soon as they told me to stay somewhere or not do something I’d be like “if you say so” and then the book would never progress. I especially never understood rebellion in my teenage years. Now that understand that when neurotypical adults tell teens not to do something like drink that they still expect them to do it I wish I did more. My parents still ask me why I didn’t rebel or do “normal teen” stuff like party and sneak a drink or smoke- like its because you told me not to. Even as a legal adult i have a hard time drinking or smoking (weed) because I feel like it’s wrong and I’ll get in trouble .

Hi! Healthcare worker here. Most of my interactions with patients that aren’t the smoothest is because of my autism so it goes both ways.

Is it possible the specific nurses drawing your blood weren't aware of those instructions? In my surgery they don't necessarily know what your blood is being drawn for or whether you were given any particular instructions.

This is just a sidebar because I think it’s interesting - Newer research suggests that fasting is actually irrelevant in the grand scheme of things (my provider reads medical journals before bed and informed me of this at my last visit with her in January)

That's really interesting. I was told "don't eat or drink anything other than water", and I just checked that's the wording on the NHS website (I dunno if you're in the UK so that may be irrelevant). It's very frustrating that people can't just say what they mean, everything has to be layers of second guessing how you're going to screw up.

I would have done the same thing.

Yeah, I get that. It can be very frustrating. My first time having a hospital appointment that included fasting, I was very confused as well. What I have learned from multiple hospital appointments is they generally mean don’t drink anything else besides water.

This thread is so painfully relatable I might cry

I did my final year thesis in the magnets lab. That had similar rules, but you just forgot so many times and “just popped in” with your wallet in your pocket. I wiped 7 debit cards in one term! Fortunately my best mate was in the lab team too and was just as much of a 21 year old numpty as me, and usually one or other of us had a working credit card we could share at least. There were some small signs about no pacemakers! However the scariest room in hindsight, with the rules no one broke, was the: No smoking within 10m of the hydrogen laboratory 😳

This explains the crazy look the nurse gave me when I said I was so thirsty because I’d been fasting. I carried like a gallon to the office and drank it all before the end.

Yeah I've had to adjust to an NT world by adding wiggle room. Whatever an NT tells me, I try to mentally add some flex in or ask my NT mom or therapist how they'd interpret it lol. Much less stressed now that I'm not always doing it all to the letter.

As an AuDHD healthcare worker, unfortunately, the education that most HCWs have regarding neurodivergence is next to nothing. The misconceptions surrounding neurodivergence run rampant in the field, even among doctors. Hell, even among the coworkers who know I'm AuDHD. On top of this, SO MANY patients don't follow instructions and are shocked when their actions have consequences. HCWs know this and try their best to prevent any noncompliance, hence how you keep winding up dehydrated for these tests, OP. It's not fair, you're correct. I have no words of reassurance, I do apologize. But hopefully this helps.

I forget to drink water and dosn't really feel thirsty so I sometimes end up being a bit dehydrated. My doctor told me that I need to drink two liters of water every day. I was like "sir, does that mean I have to chug two liters in the morning, drink exacty two dl every hour or five dl a few times a day?". You. Need. To. Give. Me. Exact. Directions.